Dr. Riggs is a coastal and marine geologist who has been doing research on modern coastal systems since 1964 and has been on the faculty at East Carolina University since 1967. His book on the geology and dynamics of North Carolina's barrier islands, The Battle for North Carolina's Coast, is an excellent primer on the geologic forces that have made the Outer Banks unique, and the effects of storms and rising seas on the islands today.

Particularly the history: 18,000 years ago—a very short time in geology—sea level was about 400 feet below what it is today. That put the shoreline many miles east on the edge of the continental shelf. The current outer banks formed only around 3000 years ago. This illustrates what happens when a landscape altered by human development in a matter of decades encounters naturally occurring processes that take thousands of years to play out.

The book also describes a possible future, as a string of isolated islands formed with higher sea levels.

America's first climate refugees: This is a small group of Native Americans whose island is slipping away. What's interesting to me is the idea that the federal government is actively taking responsibility to move the group. I imagine this is because of the Native American status, but it raises questions whether non-native communities will be supported to migrate. Who will move Miami and Fort Lauderdale?